Michael Carrick saw his Manchester United side suffer a 2-1 defeat to Leeds United at Old Trafford.
Manchester United boss Michael Carrick said his team were victim of an 'absolutely shocking' red card decision in their defeat by Leeds United, whose opener shouldn't have stood in his eyes.
Leeds went ahead inside five minutes at Old Trafford through Noah Okafor and the Swiss international made it 2-0 before the half hour mark with a second impressive first-time finish.
The hosts, who had Lisandro Martinez red carded in the second half, hit back with a Casemiro header on 69 minutes and piled on pressure looking for a leveller but Leeds secured their first league win at Old Trafford in 45 years.
Carrick took issue first with the fact that VAR didn't ask referee Paul Tierney to take another look at Dominic Calvert-Lewin's challenge on Leny Yoro immediately prior to Okafor's opener.
“A forearm smash in the back of the head”
"I don't think it's the gap [between games]," said Carrick. "Bits in the first half we can be better at. Going a goal down makes it a little bit more difficult.
“Leny Yoro gets a forearm smash in the back of the head. I don't know how that doesn't get overturned, the first goal shouldn't stand. Then it rolled a little bit from there. We didn't get to grips with it at certain points. I was really pleased with the reaction in a really tough situation and nearly got something from the game."
The Manchester United boss was even more annoyed by the decision to send Martinez off for a tug on Calvert-Lewin's hair. Referee Tierney missed it but VAR recommended he take a look and he subsequently produced a red card.
"He gets an arm in the face, they're grappling, he almost goes to grab his shirt and catches his hair, bobble comes out," said Carrick.
"There's no tug, no aggression, no sudden movement. Got to be careful where the game is going, but the first goal is deemed alright. It's an absolutely shocking decision. Two decisions for me.
“He's leant forward with his arm and kind of gone like that in Leny's head. The red card, that's really concerning if that's going to be a sending off. There's a difference between brushing someone's hair and tugging on it aggressively."
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